Fact: Governor Schwarzenegger recently announced that the hard-fought state budget is already obsolete, because of falling tax revenues from failing businesses. The eleven-billion dollar shortfall is going to require both new sources of revenue and more cuts in services.
Fact: Every day on my way to work for the last week or so, I have seen at least one, usually two, highway patrol officers writing tickets for the motorist they've pulled over.
Coincidence? I don't think so.
I haven't taken statistics, but I know I'm seeing more citations being given than a couple of months ago.
I presume most of the tickets are for speeding, since that's the offense I see most often during my commute hours. Occasionally I see somebody weaving or driving way, way too slow, but usually it's the car that passes on the right at ear-blistering speed who makes me wonder "where's a cop when you need one?"
Have you ever had the experience of thinking "Where's a cop..." when a car tailgates, then speeds by recklessly before merging back in front of you, and then a few miles later seeing that very car stopped by the side of the road with an officer writing a ticket?
I can tell you, it's a very satisfying form of revenge: free, nonviolent and anonymous. Too bad it's also rather rare. But this may change.
Theoretically I don't have a problem if traffic enforcement is ramping up. If a ticket is what it takes to get somebody to slow down for both safety and oil conservation's sake, then let's go for it.
In reality, however, increased enforcement could be a problem for me.
Ever since I got a speeding ticket on New Year's Day, 2007, I have been determined to obey the speed limit.
Since I was speeding to get to work on time, stopping to be issued a ticket obviously foiled that plan. And the fine, the paperwork, and attending traffic school added up to lots more inconvenience that would never be gained back by cutting a few minutes off my commute time.
I wrote a column some time ago about how if you do the math you see how pointless it is to exceed the speed limit on a stretch like Highway 25. The most you can possibly save is a couple of minutes. It's just not worth it.
I know all this, and yet I still have trouble getting out of the house early enough to avoid the temptation to speed. I guess unconsciously I believe that my long commute and my otherwise-clean driving record should give me special privileges.
They don't, though. So I'm going public in an effort both to warn my readers and to warn myself. Law enforcement is out there. They've got radar. They've got ticket pads. They've got speedy vehicles. They've got the law on their side. Ask not for whom the siren wails. The siren wails for thee.
Elizabeth Gage is a Hollister resident. Her column runs Tuesdays. Reach her at gage.martinie@gmail.com.
Elizabeth Gage Elizabeth Gage writes a weekly column every Thursday in the Hollister Free Lance
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